Bangladesh issues order allowing use of Chattogram and Mongla ports for transshipment of goods from India

Bangladesh has formally issued the ‘Permanent Transit Order’ (PTO) allowing movement of goods from India through its territory using the Mongla and Chattogram ports.

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) issued the order on Monday. With the signing of the PTO,  the deck has been cleared to start commercial operation of transit and transshipment from northeastern states to other parts of India using these two ports. It will drastically reduce the cost and time of transportation of goods between northeastern states and other parts of India. 

The PTO mentions that operators availing of the transshipment and transit facility will be required to obtain a license from Bangladesh Customs valid for 5 years. Goods prohibited by Bangladesh will not be allowed to be transported and the transported goods can’t be kept at Bangladesh ports for more than 7 days. It also specifies the rates for processing the document, the transshipment fee and other administrative and commercial fees. 

The order says that the transit and transshipment of goods will be carried out as per the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) signed between the two countries to operationalize the Agreement during the visit of Prime Minister of Bangladesh to India in 2019.  The signing of the SOP was a follow-up of the Agreement on the use of Chattogram and Mongla Ports (ACMP) signed in 2018.

Earlier, the trial run for the transit and transshipment was started in July/August  2020 and the fourth and final trial run was completed in October last year with the trial run of cargo arriving from Meghalaya via the Dawki-Tamabil-Chattogram route to Kolkata. 

Transit of goods is approved over eight routes under the agreement. Goods can be transported from Chattogram or Mongla port to Agartala via Akhaura, Dawki via Tamabil, Sutarkandi via Sheloa and Srimantapur via Bibir Bazar and vice versa on all four routes. 

The transshipment will drastically reduce the cost and time of shipment which will enhance trade benefiting both countries.